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Yu Darvish Has Signed With the Cubs and I’m Gonna Cry

In related news: It’s going down to minus one tonight, my insufferable White Sox fans in laws are also Cub fans, and Ervin Santana will miss spring training and the first month of the season because of recent finger surgery.

Last year Darvish went 10 -12 with a 3.86 ERA. Career wise he’s 56 – 42 with a 3.42 ERA and 1,021 strikeouts. So pretty good, pretty darn good, but not great. And last year he stunk it up in the post season, but Maddon and company will probably be infuriatingly effective in teaching him not to tip his pitches.

It’s being reported that the deal is for six years 125 mil and can go as high as 150 mil with incentives. According to twinketown, the greatest website in the universe next to this one, he was offered 5 year 100 mil plus deals by the Twins, Brewers and maybe the Astros. Apparently the Cubs were the only ones willing to be on the hook for him through age 37.

Maybe this is a smart move by the Cubs. I dunno. They have a championship window and I suppose that they figure they’re getting something of a bargain because apparently the Yankees and the Dodgers have decided to get under the luxury tax this year so they can spend tons on next year’s much better free agent class. But I still say they wouldn’t have gone for it if Andy MacPhail was still there.

I hope he ages like a carp on the beach.

Cub fans congrats (I guess). For all the rest of us, chin up and carry on!

On subject: like many Asian pitchers Yu is declining at an earlier age. The change to five man rotation? I don’t know, but the final three years of his contract will be a horrendous drag on available cash. My POV of him has always been “dammit he did it AGAIN” as he seemed to own the Angels. I couldn’t hate him as his talent was evident and he always seemed to raise the bar v. LAAoA.

I think Yu still has some bite to him. Being in Chicago is going to be good for him. I know he was with the Dodgers and Kershaw took a lot of heat off of him, but going into Wrigley he’s got Lester, Q, my boy Kyle Hendricks… that’s flippin loaded. Greg Maddux signed with Atlanta because there were already legitimate aces there and it look the pressure off. Yu is walking into a similar setup and I think it will be a positive thing.

Get a grip, Happy. It’s not Darvish’s fault you choose to live in an icebox. Why not just fill an ice tray with pomegranate juice and popsicle sticks, and leave it on your porch for an hour? The antioxidants will help exfoliate your dendrites. You’ll feel better in the morning.